Top court clears way for 2,201 Sonali Bank job seekers

The Appellate Division has cancelled stay orders on the appointment of 2,201 job seekers to state-owned Sonali Bank.

The top court has also dismissed five petitions that sought approval to challenge a High Court order that froze the recruitment two years back.

A four-member bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Tuesday.

Sonali Bank’s lawyers said now there was no legal hurdle for their client to roll out the recruitment process, in line with the job circular published in 2016.

Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury, a lawyer for the bank, said: “The latest order removed previous stay orders on the entry exams and other procedure.”

The Sonali Bank published a notice on Feb 22, 2016 to appoint 2,201 people as senior officers, officers and cash officers.

A total of 474 people challenged the legality of the circular in High Court.

They claimed that they had applied to the bank following a circular published on Jan 31, 2014 calling for applications for 1,707 posts. Their names appeared on an “internal list” but they were never recruited.

They filed a petition asking for HC directives on the bank to recruit them. The High Court rejected their petition on Jul 27 last year.

The petitioners then moved to the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order.

The court froze the recruitment following the petitions.

A total of 800,000 people responded to the 2016 circular, said Sonali Bank’s lawyer Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury.